In manufacturing electronic devices such as semiconductor devices, a film forming process for forming a film on a substrate is performed. As for a film forming apparatus used for the film forming process, there is known a film forming apparatus disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-67856.
The film forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-67856 performs the film forming process by sputtering. This film forming apparatus includes a vacuum chamber, a substrate supporting table, a target holder and a shield assembly. The substrate supporting table is installed in the vacuum container and mounts a substrate on a mounting surface thereof. The target holder holds a target. The shield assembly is installed between the target holder and the substrate supporting table. The shield assembly has an opening. In this film forming apparatus, particles from the target are released to a space below the shield assembly through the opening. The substrate supporting table moves in one direction below the shield assembly. Accordingly, the particles from the target are incident on the substrate, thereby forming a film on the substrate.
In the film forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-67856, the particles from the target are deposited not only on the substrate but also on a wall surface of the vacuum container which defines the space below the shield assembly and components installed in the space. Since it is preferable to suppress unnecessary deposition of the particles from the target on places other than the substrate, it is required to suppress unnecessary scattering of the particles from the target. The film forming apparatus may include a movable shutter (cover plate) to suppress unnecessary deposition of the particles from the target. The film forming apparatus including the movable shutter requires a mechanism for moving the movable shutter as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-249517. Accordingly, the number of components of the film forming apparatus including the movable shutter is increased.